{"id":7171,"date":"2026-04-05T13:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T11:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2026-04-05T17:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:08:26","slug":"hey-there-can-i-use-your-upwork-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/7171\/hey-there-can-i-use-your-upwork-account\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey there? Can I use your Upwork account?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of content<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/7171\/hey-there-can-i-use-your-upwork-account\/#A_few_typical_red_flags\" >A few typical red flags<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/7171\/hey-there-can-i-use-your-upwork-account\/#Conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>Identity theft and security risks: An analysis of the \u201cUpwork Account Rental\u201d scam.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I received an email, supposedly from China. It proposes a collaboration:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\nHowdy? \ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a\ud83d\ude0a<br \/>\nThis is Cui from China, and I found your profile on GitHub. I have worked with so many companies so far.<br \/>\nBut I recently decided to start freelancing with an European Upwork account.<br \/>\nAlso, hope to collaborate with you on your projects.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cui_1.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1272\" height=\"957\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7169\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cui_1.webp 1272w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cui_1-300x226.webp 300w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cui_1-1024x770.webp 1024w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cui_1-768x578.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1272px) 100vw, 1272px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So Cui wants to freelance and has a problem. He\u2019s based in China, and most platforms are rather cautious there. Not long ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/news\/Nordkorea-schleust-IT-Arbeiter-in-westliche-Firmen-ein-USA-verhaengen-Sanktionen-11217484.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">developers infiltrating North Korea<\/a> were exposed.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_few_typical_red_flags\"><\/span>A few typical red flags<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>\nI would put some words to why I need your help on Upwork and how it would be going for you.<br \/>\n&#8211; Why I need to use the European Upwork account?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The crux of the matter is that a freelancer account is being set up in my name. The idea is that Company X thinks they\u2019re hiring me, but in reality, a supposed Chinese national is working for the company. If things go wrong, that person spies on the company or installs a ransomware trojan\u2014all under my name.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8211; How I can use your Upwork account?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Technically, the whole thing is supposed to run via TeamViewer or AnyDesk. To put it bluntly, I\u2019m supposed to grant access to my computer. In the best-case scenario, the person is really just working for money; otherwise, my computer will be used for criminal activities.<\/p>\n<p>Without proper security measures, the person would not only have access to my computer but also to other devices on my home network. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8211; How we can transfer money with each other?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Of course, none of this is for free; I get to keep 10% of the earnings. I\u2019m supposed to forward the rest via PayPal or other services. This not only turns you into a financial agent and money launderer but could also get you in trouble with the tax authorities. I\u2019d have to pay taxes on the entire amount, and I assume the Chinese person won\u2019t issue me an invoice.<\/p>\n<p>With a tax burden of, say, 20%, that\u2019s a bad deal.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8211; You don&#8217;t have to worry about me stealing from your Upwork account. Why?<br \/>\nAlso, Upwork requires video chat sometimes, and I can&#8217;t do it without your help.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But don\u2019t worry, the account won\u2019t be stolen from me. If push comes to shove, my European face will still be needed in case there is a potential customer behind it who requests a video chat.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Requests like this are highly dubious. You\u2019re not only risking your reputation and your accounts on platforms like Upwork or GitHub, but you\u2019re also putting yourself in a legal and security risk zone. If you receive emails like this: delete them unread and block the sender.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Identity theft and security risks: An analysis of the \u201cUpwork Account Rental\u201d scam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[883],"tags":[1020],"class_list":["post-7171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-en","tag-security-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ekiwi.de\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}